Privacy Policy

Who we are

What personal data we collect and why we collect it

Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Media

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

Giveaway forms

When you enter a giveaway on GeekDad, the information you enter in the giveaway form is stored in our databases. That information is retained until the winner has been determined and notified. Once the winner has been determined and notified, entries are deleted from our database, except for the winner. The winner’s information will be preserved until we can confirm delivery of the prize, or a request for the information to be deleted is received. The author running the giveaway will delete email communications upon request once the prize has been confirmed delivered.

We do not use this information for marketing purposes. This information is used in order to contact the winner of the giveaway. We also share the winner’s information with the company sponsoring the giveaway so that they can mail you your prize.

Cookies

If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you have an account and you log in to this site, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

To improve your experience on our site, we may use ‘cookies’. Cookies are an industry standard and most major web sites use them. A cookie is a small text file that our site may place on your computer as a tool to remember your preferences. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracing your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Links to Other Sites

Our website may contain links to other websites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. When you go to other websites from here, we advise you to be aware and read their privacy policy.

Analytics

Our website uses Google Analytics, a service which transmits website traffic data to Google servers in the United States. Google Analytics does not identify individual users or associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. We use reports provided by Google Analytics to help us understand website traffic and webpage usage.

By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner described in Google’s Privacy Policy and for the purposes set out above. We honor a browser’s Do Not Track (DNT) request, however, not all browsers have that feature. You can opt out of Google Analytics if you disable or refuse the cookie, disable JavaScript, or use the following button:

GeekDad also uses interfaces with social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and others. If you choose to “like” or “share” information from this website through these services, you should review the privacy policy of that service. If you are a member of a social media site, the interfaces may allow the social media site to connect your visits to this site with other Personal Information.

Third Party Advertising

GeekDad and third-party vendors, including Google, use first-party cookies (Google Analytics cookie) and third-party cookies (DoubleClick cookie) together to inform, optimize, and serve ads based on past visits to our website. More specifically, our website has implemented and uses display advertising, and we utilize Google Analytics to implement a specific feature called remarketing. Remarketing is a feature of Google’s AdWords that allows us to optimize the delivery of ad content specifically targeted to a visitor’s interests based upon previous visits to our site. If you’d like more information about remarketing lists in Google Analytics please visit the following site – https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2611268.

If you would like to opt-out of Google Analytics for display advertising you may do so by using the Ads Preferences Manager.

We may partner with a third party to either display advertising on our website or to manage our advertising on other sites. Our third party partner may use technologies such as cookies to gather information about your activities on this website and other sites in order to provide you advertising based upon your browsing activities and interests. If you wish to not have this information used for the purpose of serving you interest-based ads, you may opt-out by clicking here – http://preferences-mgr.truste.com/(or if located in the European Union click here – http://www.youronlinechoices.eu/

Who we share your data with

From time-to-time our website developer and hosting provider Skookum Monkey Hosting and Design has access to your data in order to perform site maintenance, and perform DDoS mitigation and other security measure. Skookum Monkey Hosting and Design does not collect, save, or use this data for its own purposes. Skookum Monkey Hosting and Designs has two privacy policies: one for clients and one for visitors.

How long we retain your data

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

What rights you have over your data

If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Where we send your data

Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service, as well as scanned through our firewall to prevent the injection of malicious script and prevent linking to malicious websites.

Data That Is Sent to Jetpack

Activity Log

Data Used: To deliver this functionality and record activities around site management, the following information is captured: user email address, user role, user login, user display name, WordPress.com and local user IDs, the activity to be recorded, the WordPress.com-connected site ID of the site on which the activity takes place, the site’s Jetpack version, and the timestamp of the activity. Some activities may also include the actor’s IP address (login attempts, for example) and user agent.

Activity Tracked: Login attempts/actions, post and page update and publish actions, comment/pingback submission and management actions, plugin and theme management actions, widget updates, user management actions, and the modification of other various site settings and options. Retention duration of activity data depends on the site’s plan and activity type. See the complete list of currently-recorded activities (along with retention information).

Data Synced (?): Successful and failed login attempts, which will include the actor’s IP address and user agent.

Gravatar Hovercards

Data Used: This feature will send a hash of the user’s email address (if logged in to the site or WordPress.com — or if they submitted a comment on the site using their email address that is attached to an active Gravatar profile) to the Gravatar service (also owned by Automattic) in order to retrieve their profile image.

Activity Tracked: Sending notifications (i.e. when we send a notification to a particular user), opening notifications (i.e. when a user opens a notification that they receive), performing an action from within the notification panel (e.g. liking a comment or marking a comment as spam), and clicking on any link from within the notification panel/interface.

Sharing

Data Used: When sharing content via email (this option is only available if Akismet is active on the site), the following information is used: sharing party’s name and email address (if the user is logged in, this information will be pulled directly from their account), IP address (for spam checking), user agent (for spam checking), and email body/content. This content will be sent to Akismet (also owned by Automattic) so that a spam check can be performed.

Subscriptions

Data Used: To initiate and process subscriptions, the following information is used: subscriber’s email address and the ID of the post or comment (depending on the specific subscription being processed). In the event of a new subscription being initiated, we also collect some basic server data, including all of the subscribing user’s HTTP request headers, the IP address from which the subscribing user is viewing the page, and the URI which was given in order to access the page (REQUEST_URI and DOCUMENT_URI). This server data used for the exclusive purpose of monitoring and preventing abuse and spam.

Activity Tracked:Functionality cookies are set for a duration of 347 days to remember a visitor’s blog and post subscription choices if, in fact, they have an active subscription.

WordPress.com Stats

Data Used: IP address, WordPress.com user ID (if logged in), WordPress.com username (if logged in), user agent, visiting URL, referring URL, timestamp of event, browser language, country code. Important: The site owner does not have access to any of this information via this feature. For example, a site owner can see that a specific post has 285 views, but he/she cannot see which specific users/accounts viewed that post. Stats logs — containing visitor IP addresses and WordPress.com usernames (if available) — are retained by Automattic for 28 days and are used for the sole purpose of powering this feature.

Activity Tracked: Post and page views, outbound link clicks, referring URLs and search engine terms, and country. When this module is enabled, Jetpack also tracks performance on each page load that includes the Javascript file used for tracking stats. This is exclusively for aggregate performance tracking across Jetpack sites in order to make sure that our plugin and code is not causing performance issues. This includes the tracking of page load times and resource loading duration (image files, Javascript files, CSS files, etc.). The site owner has the ability to force this feature to honor DNT settings of visitors. By default, DNT is currently not honored, but it is enabled on this site.

Contact information

GeekDad 3585 Sutton Loop Fremont, CA 94536

Attention: Privacy Officer Email: privacy@geekdad.com

Additional information

How we protect your data

The following security measures will be followed to ensure that client personal information is appropriately protected:

The use of user IDs and passwords;

Encryption;

Firewalls;

Restricting employee access to personal information as appropriates;

Data storage in Canada.

What data breach procedures we have in place

Our website and hosting server have multiple firewalls. Our website is scanned once a day for possible data breaches and vulnerabilities. If a data breach or vulnerability is detected, a site admin is alerted by email. If your data has been compromised, we will alert you no later than 3 days from the date of the detected breach, letting you know which data was compromised, what we have done to prevent it from occurring again, and steps to take to secure your data. Vulnerabilities are patched within 24 hours of patch’s availability.

What third parties we receive data from

We do not receive any data from third parties.

What automated decision making and/or profiling we do with user data

We do not do any automated decision making and/or profiling with user data.

Support GeekDad

If you don’t want to create a Patreon account to support GeekDad, you can do so here! You can choose to make your contribution reoccurring or single.

5

Backers

$23.00

raised

Choose An Amount

$ Make this donation

$1.00

For every person who supports us at the $1 a month level, we'll add your name to the patrons list on our blog and give you the thanks you deserve!

$2.50

You are an awesome patron, and you're going above the call of duty. We'll put your name on the patron rolls, and if you drop us your Twitter handle, you'll get a shout-out!

$5.00

You'll be recognized as a Golden Patron, with a special call-out on our siderail, and invitations to any GeekDad events in your area. Drop us your Twitter handle, and we'll send you a shout-out.

$10.00

You are an Associate Publisher on the blog, and get your name specially featured in the Masthead. Send us your Twitter handle and you'll get a huge thanks and a follow!

$20.00

You're a Platinum Patron! You are an amazing supportive person, and we love you! You're name goes on the Masthead, and we'll follow you on Twitter and thank you so much.!

None

About GeekDad

GeekDad® is a parenting, technology, and culture blog staffed by a diverse team of contributors, working together to inform, educate, and entertain parents everywhere who have a geeky nature and want to raise their kids the same way.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use. To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy